Chinese company helps Africa building high-speed broadband network

Two African residents using mobile phones [Photo: huanqiu.com]

A joint China-Africa project to build a high-speed broadband network across the continent has been launched.

Initiated by China Comservice, the project plans to cover most parts of Africa, with optical cables stretching tens of thousands of kilometers through nearly a hundred big cities.

Over the past decade, Africa's information technology market has been booming, becoming a new driving force for economic growth. Excluding South Africa, the continent's consumption of information technology products and services reached 42.8 billion US dollars.

Xu Chuguo, deputy general manager of China Comservice, said the high-speed broadband network echoes the Belt and Road Initiative, helps Chinese companies go global and promote economic development and employment in African countries.

Debretsion Gebremichael, Minister of Ethiopian Communication and Information Technology, said African economic development is still at an early stage and needs advanced technology.

Information and communication technology can drive technology improvement in other fields and attract more investment to Africa, which is an effective way of relieving poverty, said Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

By 2020, Africa is expected to attract more than 400 billion US dollars in investment in the field, added Paul Kagame.